Nicky Byrne, best known for his time spent as a member of one of the worlds’ most successful boybands Westlife, releases his debut solo single “Sunlight” today, Friday 12th Feb 2016 through Universal Music Ireland. Sunlight co-written by Nicky, renowned songwriter Wayne Hector and award-winning composer Ronan Hardiman is a modern, mid-tempo, pop track with an ultimately catchy hook, and is available to download now.

Voted one of the top 25 songwriters in the world over the last two decades, Wayne Hector has written hits for leading international artists such as One Direction, Britney Spears and Jason Derulo. His songwriting credits also comprise seven of Westlife’s number 1 singles including Flying Without Wings, Swear It Again and World Of Our Own. Ronan Hardiman has worked as a musician, composer and producer since 1990 and his credits include the soundtrack of Michael Flately’s Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames, as well as scoring the TV series Neverland.

Byrne, from Dublin, joined Westlife in 1998 and after 15 successful years touring the globe, selling over 50 million albums worldwide including 7 number 1 albums and 14 number 1 hits, the band retired. Nicky never retired his passion for music however and it was this appetite that spurred him to pursue an alternate career in the industry, this time as a solo artist. This week, Nicky put pen to paper and inked a solo deal with Universal Music Ireland and will release his debut solo album later this year.

Speaking on behalf of Universal Music Ireland, MD Mark Crossingham welcomed Nicky to the label stating; “We’re absolutely thrilled to have Nicky signed to the label. I’m excited about launching the project around Eurovision and we have many more great singles to come!”

Earlier this month RTE announced that Nicky will represent Ireland in Eurovision 2016 in May in Sweden with the song Sunlight. Ahead of the competition, Irish TV audiences have the opportunity to watch Nicky perform the song live for the first time on The Ray D’arcy Show this Saturday night 13th Feb on RTE1 from 10.05pm.

Expressing his confidence and enthusiasm, Nicky states; “The song is called “Sunlight” and I co-wrote it with two of the music industry’s legends. I have always felt this song had something different, something special. I also look forward to re-visiting Sweden, a country where we had so much success with Westlife over the years and I can’t wait to be a part of what I’m sure will be an amazing show in Stockholm. Ireland, I will give it my best shot. Sweden… here we come!”.

Nicky will perform in the Eurovision Semi-Final in the Globe Arena in Stockholm on either Tuesday 10th or Thursday 12th May, to qualify for a place in the Final on Saturday 14th May.